Labour's drink-driving law won't cut road deaths |
‘We will tread more lightly on your lives,’ promised Keir Starmer in his first speech as Prime Minister. Yet his government has not lifted the weight of the state in their 18 months of power but made it more intrusive. Today, as part of a new road safety strategy, Labour is proposing cutting the drink-drive limit from 80 to 50 milligrams per hundred millilitres of blood, matching the stricter Scottish limits. I’m not convinced this crackdown will save lives.
I have not had to peel the remains of mangled children and adults from cars and pavements, as many police officers and paramedics have. But as an A&E doctor I have heard their stories and looked after those they brought in who survived, sometimes only long enough to die as I tried to keep them alive. Questioning the government’s plans isn’t dismissing these horrors but taking them seriously. Our responses need to be effective, not performative.
This is a government run by announcement culture
There have been multiple recommendations, nationally and internationally, to cut the drink-drive limit to Scottish levels. The European Commission told member states to do so from 2001. In 2021, two authors from the Institute of Alcohol Studies – dedicated to reducing........